Monsters That Go Bump
by SMarie0717
Summary: Single Mom AU: Maya Hart is raising a child all by herself and that's just the way she likes it. She would never let a man into her daughters life that she didn't deem worthy. One day she has no choice but to do just that. Maya/Zay friendship, eventual Lucaya
1. Chapter 1

Growing up Maya Hart was always a rebel. She was in detention more than she was in class, and she was constantly flitting between boys. Her fluffy blonde hair and electric 'come hither' blue eyes drew all the boys in her school to her. Her senior year she got around so much that she couldn't tell you all the names of the boys she slept with and definitely not when it happened. Which became a problem shortly after graduation when she suddenly had a baby bump. 8 1/2 months later the small blonde gave birth to a little ebony haired child with bright blue eyes. From that moment on Maya turned her entire life around, it was like she made a vow to Fiona Emilia Hart that her daughter's life was going to be better than her own. And it was.

Maya put herself through a mediocre liberal arts college to get her degree in painting. As long as Maya could keep Fiona quiet she took her baby to all of her classes for 3 years until she was old enough to go to daycare. Maya had a plethora of odd jobs, usually 3 or 4 at a time that paid enough for her to stick to her payment plan with the school. She took jobs with odd hours so that she could be with Fiona most of the day and then have someone, usually her mom or her best friend Riley, watch her through the night and into the morning.

Once she graduated she still needed to have a steady income so she took a part-time job at a small decorating business in the area as a specialty/regular painter, as well as a part-time secretary job at a law firm. She hated her secretary job but it paid the bills, and the woman that worked the opposite shift was nice enough to sometimes take her shifts when she needed to be with Fiona, who was now 6 years old.

"Good morning Ms. Hart." Called the newest member of the firm. He was not much older than her, and he was a hunk. He had tanned skin, messy blonde hair, beautiful sea foam green eyes, and you could tell even through his suits that he was perfectly muscled.

"Good Morning Mr. Friar! And I've told you before you can call me Maya!" She twirled her curly blonde hair around her finger and leaned onto her elbows.

"And I have told you to call me Lucas but you haven't done that now have you." He put his arms out onto the ledge of her desk that was higher than the rest, and smirked down at her.

"Well Mr. Friar you're my boss, it feels wrong to call you by your first name it's informal. I'm just a secretary please call me Maya." She pleaded as she pursed her plump pink lips into a cute pout.

"Just a secretary? Oh please, you know this office wouldn't run without you gorgeous." Maya was a little thrown off by the gorgeous; sure they had flirted but nothing this upfront.

The tension that had built up around them was quickly shattered as Mr. Franklin, the head of the firm, stormed into the small office.

"Mr. Friar refrain from flirting with Ms. Hart," Lucas nodded as he turned to walk towards his office, "and Ms. hart do I have any messages?" The older man continued to walk past Maya, meaning that she was going to have to chase after him to relay his messages. Sometimes, when he was feeling nice, he would stop at her desk, give her a cup of coffee, and patiently wait for his messages. However, on days like today, where for some reason (his wife) he was annoyed, he would just sprint past her desk and then blow up at her if he didn't get all his messages.

She quickly jumped from her chair and took off down the hall to catch up with him, which was a challenge in heels and a constricting pencil skirt.

"Timothy Roeford called apparently his youngest got herself into trouble again and needs an immediate meeting, Isa Drake just said to call her and she sounded stressed so I would make that a priority, Hannah," his youngest daughter AKA his little princess, "called she wants to meet you for lunch today, and finally Lucy called in with the flu so she won't be here today and maybe tomorrow." She took a few deep breaths after she finished her messages and continued to stride along behind him.

"Thank you darling, I will call everyone back. And please make reservations for Hannah and me at Parlay for 1 o'clock." He reached his office and unceremoniously slammed the door in Maya's face.

"Of course sir." She mumbled under her breath as she spun on her heels and headed back to her desk.

For the rest of the day she absent mindedly doodled in her note pads, made copies, signed for packages, and counted down the minutes until she could get back to her home and her daughter.

Towards the end of her day she noticed Lucas going down to the coffee cart outside, and switched al the calls to her cell and decided to take her break. She smiled and took off down the hall eager to catch up with him.

"Hold the elevator!" She yelled as she just barely reached the doors. Lucas smirked and shoved his hand in between the closing doors so that she would have time to catch up.

"What's got you in such a hurry Ms. Hart?" He smirked down at her, seeing as he was a foot taller than her even in heels.

"I need my afternoon coffee Mr. Friar it's been a long day." She smiled and stepped into the elevator next to him.

"Yes I heard you had to run the mile this morning." She laughed at his comment.

"Yes, yes Mr. Franklin was in a mood this morning, he almost broke my nose."

"What?" He said breathily followed by laughter.

"Yes I got a door to the face for breakfast this morning." He laughed at her again. She smiled at him, she had never heard him laugh before and it was a glorious sound. His face scrunched up and his entire body vibrated with his deep rich laughter.

"I'm sorry I'm sure that would have made your boyfriend pretty worried."

"Well Mr. Friar I do not have a boyfriend," She saw his face perk up and he brilliantly smiled down at her, "but it sure would've given my daughter a scare." She stared at him pointedly trying to stop him in his tracks of courtship. Most men immediately stopped hitting on her as soon as they heard about Fiona, and she liked it that way. It weeded out all the assholes and the deadbeats who she didn't want in her life in the first place. With her limited knowledge of Lucas she figured he was a playboy just trying to get up the skirt of the hot secretary.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a daughter." He sounded defeated and that brilliant smile had left his face.

"Well I do. She just turned 6." She looked over at him with a blank face, and waited for any kind of reaction. His face remained sunken in and he remained stationary until the ding that signaled they had reached the ground level filled the elevator. Maya darted out of the elevator in record time because she could not stand one more second of Lucas staring at her like was a ghost. She could hear him slowly emerging from the elevator and sped up her pace so that she could be in front of the older woman who was walking towards the cart.

The line was already long but from the time that she got in line at least 6 more people had lined up behind her before Lucas jumped in. She waited in the freezing cold, without a jacket, for about 10 minutes until she finally got to order.

"Can I get a large coffee, 1 cream and 2 sugars?" The skinny blonde barista nodded down at her _God am I shorter than everyone?_ She thought to herself. She pulled a 5-dollar bill out of her wallet as she thought about how the barista could've easily been a super model.

"It's 4.25." The barista said boredly, she accepted Maya's five-dollar bill and handed her the coffee.

"Thanks, keep the change." She quickly got out of line and made her way back into the building. She ducked her head as she walked past Lucas, and this was a grave mistake. She ran straight into a man walking in the opposite direction. Her coffee spilled all over the two of them causing a series of yelps, and all of his things tumbled to the ground.

"Oh my god sir I am so sorry!" Maya crouched to the ground and started picking up the papers that were scattered over the cobblestone

"It's ok doll I got it." The man crouched on the ground beside her and grabbed his various pens, pencils, flash drives, and papers. Maya rolled her eyes at the name he called her, if there was anything she hated it was sexist men. He stood from the ground and winked at the still crouching Maya. She let out a huff and struggled to stand up.

"God damn it!" She glanced down at her white button up shirt that was now soaked in coffee and partially see through. She looked up and made eye contact with a smirking Lucas. She huffed again and walked away, adding a little sway to her step. If Lucas was going to stare at her might as well give him something to stare at.

She reached her floor and headed straight back to the bathroom. She stared at her distressed figure in the mirror. Her shirt was becoming stained and transparent, her hair had begun to frizz due to the running and the collision, her cheeks were flushed, and her face had become dull due to her lack of caffeine. She was a wreck.

She splashed some water on her face, careful not to ruin her makeup, and a little in her hair to calm the frizz. She pulled the curls that had fallen apart back together and twirled them around her finger to better define them. She looked down at the wet patch on her shirt and realized that there was little she could do. Hesitantly she unbuttoned and pulled the shirt off her shoulders then angrily stuffed it under the faucet. She put a little soap on her hand and lightly scrubbed at the stained fabric. When it was as clean as it would get she shoved it under the hand dryer. There she was standing in the middle of the, co-ed, bathroom in her bra, 5-inch pumps, and skintight pencil skirt. _What has my life come to_? She pulled her now warm shirt back on to her shoulders. She buttoned it up and tucked it back in to her skirt.

She exited the bathroom and made her way back to her desk. She slumped down into her chair and pulled out the hidden picture of Fiona from her desk. Mr. Franklin did not like personalization but sometimes she needed a little pick me up. She rubbed her thumb on the well-worn picture of her baby girl. It was a picture from her first year in pre-school and she had worked late that night so Auntie Riley got to dress her, which meant she wore whatever she wanted. She had on a purple shirt with a duck on it, fleece pajama pants with pancakes on them, and a yellow velour zip-up sweatshirt. Her hair was in a partial water-sprout, her self-cut bangs were mussed above her eyes, and she had a smile that showed all her little teeth. Fiona was the most beautiful child and this particular picture always seemed to calm her. It showed how care-free her baby was, and the fact that she looked precious even in that ridiculous get up showed just how beautiful her little girl was. Just thinking of being back in her home cuddled up on the couch with Fiona made time seem to speed by. She sat there examining every strand of the child's black hair until her shift was over. This was not unusual, on slow days she spent most of her time doodling or thinking about Fiona.

"Hey Maya, I'm here to relieve you!" Kate, the woman who worked the other shift, bounded up to Maya and started to lean on her chair.

"Hey Kate. You couldn't have come at a more perfect time." Maya stood and hugged Kate tiredly.

"Bye girl!" Maya waved back to Kate's goodbye and trudged her way towards the elevators.

She leaned her back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief to finally be heading home. She sat against the railings in the elevator feeling the pinching ease in her toes and the tension and pain in her legs stopped for just a second. Once the elevator dinged she leisurely made her way to where she had parked that morning. She knew that she should probably be moving a little faster since she had to pick up Fi from the bus stop in 45 minutes, and it was a 30 minute drive home then a 5 minute walk to the bus stop. After a few minutes she reached her beat up cherry red 2007 Honda civic, and slumped into the drivers seat. Maya had a stressful day so she sat in her car just breathing for a second until she knew for sure that her head wasn't about to explode.

She loved being a mom, she even loved being a single mom, but sometimes it all became too much. Being the only person her little girl could rely on was a lot, but she never got a break. Usually there are two people to share responsibilities but she was the only one. She had to earn enough money to support the two of them along with enough to pay off her college debts. However she couldn't work too much or Fiona would feel abandoned. There was so much stress on her shoulders that sometimes she felt like she was being suffocated. She was only 24 and she had all the struggles of your twenties along with the struggles of your thirties and even some of your forties. She had to stop thinking about this and so she made her way home.

She arrived at 2:50, which was a little late, so she shot off a text to one of Fiona's friend's mom's and asked her to chill with Fiona until Maya could be there. Maya slipped off her heels and ran into her run down, but chic apartment building straight to the elevator. Her feet were killing her and she could not handle the stairs right now. She could suddenly hear fast and heavy footsteps approaching her and was on immediate standby due to her sketchy neighborhood.

"Maya wait up!" She turned around at her name being called and saw one of her best friends Isaiah Babineaux.

"Hey, Zay!" She opened her arms and he swooped in and lifted her into a hug. One of the best things about being short is that she gets the best hugs from her tall friends.

"How you doing baby girl!" He was the only person she would allow to call her pet names. He was her right hand man; he lived right upstairs and was Fiona's most common babysitter.

"I'm doing great Hunkalicious! I really need to go pick up Fi. Come with me upstairs?"

"Of course darlin'!" He was from Texas so everything he said sounded sweet, and charming and it always made her perk up.

On the first day she moved in, Zay had seen the young woman struggling to unpack all her boxes while her 3-month year old screamed, and had come to her rescue. He took all the heaviest boxes up while Maya soothed the screaming child, and when he finally grew tired she insisted she take the rest of the boxes. Zay had never held a baby before, but when Maya put the adorable baby in his arms he instantly fell in love with Fiona. He was cooing and baby talking her by the time Maya came back down from her first trip. When they had finally taken all the boxes upstairs she was exhausted and starving and Fiona was snoozing in the comfortable arms of her new best friend. Since nothing in the apartment was set up yet there was no way she was eating tonight and having fast food with a 3-month year old was nearly impossible. So being the southern gentlemen Zay was he brought her and a sleeping Fiona up to his apartment and made them a lovely microwave dinner. Ever since he had been right there always helping her out and supporting her to the best of his ability. Sometimes there wasn't much he could do to make things ok but he still tried. Most people would think he was in love with her, but he was absolutely infatuated with the sports physician, a lady named Smackle, who looked after most of his injured athletes, Zay was just starting to be a sports agent so he had plenty. The two of them weren't in love but after 5 1/2 years they had grown to be best friends that absolutely adored each other.

"Maya I hate to tell you, but Fiona's bus arrived 10 minutes ago." Maya was pulling on her sweatpants under her skirt and was unbuttoning her stiff shirt. Zay had seen her in every state of undress except for bare-naked so she didn't even care that he was seeing her running around in a bra.

"Zay I know! Now help me fine my Zeppelin shirt!" He rolled his eyes at her and went to search the apartment. She unzipped her skirt and pulled it over her sweats and then continued to run frantically around her house looking for her shirt.

"Found it Maya!" She sighed and ran towards his voice that was coming from the kitchen.

"Thank God!" She reached out for her shirt and he held it high above his head.

"You'll get your shirt when you slow down and say thank you Zay for being the most amazing perfect best friend in the entire world." She slipped on the slippers that were sitting beside the kitchen table and reached out for her shirt again.

"Zay I love you but I do not have time for this!" He relented and handed her the shirt he was clutching. She pulled the shirt over her head.

"Lock up when you leave!" She screamed as she ran out the door and towards the stairs. She quickly hopped down the stairs praying not to miss one. Finally she reached the ground level and she sprinted out the door. She immediately took a sharp right out of her building and took off down the street towards her daughter's bus stop. It was incredibly cold out since the sun was beginning its dissent so the combination of short sleeves and cold air meant Maya felt the cold biting her skin. Finally she saw Margo's blonde teased up hair from over the bushes so she knew her baby was close. She quickly turned the corner and she instantly relaxed as she saw Fiona. Margo turned around and smiled in relief as she saw Maya. She mouthed thank God and tapped Fiona on the head. Fi whipped around and her face brightened.

"Mama!"

"Baby!" Fiona took off and sprung off her chubby little legs into her mother's slender toned arms. Maya kissed her cheek and the top of her head and nuzzled her nose into the side of her face. Fiona wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and giggled as her mother kissed and nuzzled her.

"Mama can we go home?" Fiona exclaimed but Maya's mass of hair and her too big t-shirt muffled it.

"Of course we can baby." She kissed the top of her head again, and carried the bubbly 6 year old off down the road towards their apartment.

The walk home took a little longer with the six year old constantly stopping and pointing at pretty flowers and cool bugs, Maya could not relate to that one, she stopped to pet all the dogs and she even made her mom stop to talk to the gangsters in their neighborhood. The gangsters were surprisingly nice to the mother and her daughter, they did a magic trick that wowed Fiona and of course they hit on Maya, but when she said stop they did which is more than most guys do. Finally they got home and Fiona bounced into the building eager to be home.

"Mama come on, let's go. Mama come on, come on!" Maya scoffed at the little girl and quickened her pace to keep up. Fiona ran to the opening elevator and jumped up and down right in front of it. She bounded in and urged her mother towards her.

"Fiona sweetie you can't reach the buttons!" Maya yelped as she sprinted so that her daughter wouldn't end up alone in the elevator. Just in time she stopped the closing doors and stepped in.

"Yes I can mama! See!" She stood on her tiptoes and pressed the highest button she could reach, 3. They lived on the 7th floor but Maya didn't say anything she just pressed 7 when the kid wasn't looking. The doors opened and closed, and Maya kept a tight grip on Fiona who would have bolted out of the doors. She held on until they reached their floor and once they did Fiona practically dragged her to their apartment. Maya dug out her keys as the restless child tugged on her mother's arm.

"Mama!" She dragged out the -a and pouted up at her mother. _At least one person is shorter than me!_ She thought to herself. Finally she got the door open and Fiona ran inside. She jumped right on to the couch and sank into the cushions with a blissful look on her little face.

Maya quickly moved into the kitchen to grab Fiona's peanut butter sandwich that she had made before she got dressed earlier. She cut the sandwich into four triangles and arranged them on her plate so that the sandwich looked like a butterfly. She took the plate into the main room and set the small plate in Fiona's lap so that she could enjoy her snack. Happily the little girl munched on her sandwich laughing as the peanut butter stuck to the roof of her mouth.

"Mama can Uncle Zay come over tonight?" The little girl started the get excited again, and Maya could not handle the hyper active child so she quickly replied.

"We can call him right now baby I'll get the phone you stay there." The little girl cheered and sat up on the couch. Maya preferred to use the landline so she ran into the kitchen and picked up the old phone. She raced back into the main room and jumped onto the couch making Fiona bounce involuntarily. She dialed the number for the apartment above hers, one of the only numbers she had memorized, and listened to the dial tone start.

"I wanna hear mama!" Maya turned it to speakerphone and put it in her lap. Fiona eagerly leaned in to try and hear the conversation.

"Heyllo." Zay's signature welcome made Fiona even more excited.

"ZAY!" The child yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Is that Ms. Fiona?" He said teasingly.

"Yeah Uncle Zay it's me!"

"Well to what do I owe the pleasure?" Fiona looked up at her mom confused, and Maya chuckled at the odd wording and her daughter's confusion.

"The nugget wanted to see if you could come over tonight! So can you?"

"I wish I could," Zay said regretfully, "I have an old friend visiting tonight, and I have no clue when he'll show up so I should probably stay up here tonight."

"But Zay!" The little girl screeched.

"I'm sorry princess! How about tomorrow I make you pizza bagels for a snack?"

"Mama can he?" Maya was looking forward to having to make one less meal.

"Of course he can baby! See you tomorrow at 3:10 sharp Zay!"

"Ok see you then gorgeous! Bye cutie-pie!"

"Bye!" The two girls sang at the same time. She heard the telltale click of a hung up phone and the turned her own off.

"Mama I want to Zay to come over!" The 6 year old complained.

"It's just fine baby tonight can just be a mommy and Fifi night is that ok with you?"

"Yay! Mama what's for dinner?" The little girl pulled at Maya's sleeve eagerly and jumped up and down.

"What do you think about," Maya pretended to think for a second, "chicken fingers for dinner?" She said excitedly with a comically large smile.

"YAY!" Fiona took off into the kitchen to open the freezer.

The two of them began to thaw the chicken tenders and decided that mashed potatoes were the best side. Of course microwave potatoes. Once the chicken tenders had thawed Maya let Fiona set the two timers and then sent her off to pick a movie.

An hour or so later Maya was settled on the couch with her child settled into her side. They had old foldable trays in front of them so that they could eat their dinner while they watched The Wizard of OZ. The mother daughter pair devoured their dinner while laughing and singing along to the music. They even began to bounce around the room and make up their own dance routine. By 8 o'clock Fiona was completely tuckered out. She was draped across her mothers lap acting like she was asleep.

"Fi do you know what time it is?" She shook her head as her mother moved her bangs out of her face. "It's bath time sweetie." The little girl immediately perked up, she has always loved bath time it was her favorite thing behind her mama and Zay.

Fiona giggled and shifted off her mother's lap. The little girl was tired so she slowly, but surely, made her way towards Maya's room, which inconveniently was the only bathtub in the apartment. Maya slowly lifted herself off the couch because she was getting pretty exhausted herself. When she, finally, made her way into the bathroom Fiona had already taken off her clothes and was sitting in the tub. Maya chuckled and began filling the tub. Fiona swam, as best she could, around in the tub collecting bubbles from soap and shampoo and blowing them throughout the bathroom. She pushed her rubber ducky through the murky water and giggled as Maya washed her hair, which somehow tickled. Once she was completely rinsed off Maya scooped her up and rapped her in a fluffy light purple towel.

She carried her to her bedroom and picked out the girl's pajamas for the night. She basically fell asleep in Maya's arms as she pulled on her baby's unicorn onesie. She settled the child under the covers and lightly kissed her forehead.

Maya trudged her way to her own bedroom, which was only a few feet away but it felt like miles. Slowly she stripped off her sweats from the rest of the day, her room was always too hot so she couldn't sleep in sweats unless she wanted to boil to death. She pulled on an old pair of far to short shorts and as she pulled her way too tight bra off she felt absolute bliss. She picked out a random tank top and pulled it over her head and then fell straight into her bed. She burrowed under her layers of comforters and blankets until she had a cocoon of comfort around her to slowly ease her into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Maya awoke with a start. She grabbed at her clock and saw that it was just past midnight. She wasn't quite sure what exactly it was that woke her but whatever it was it was ill timed.

She had been absorbed in a dream about a particular douchey skirt-chaser from the office. Sure he was an ass but damn he was good looking and she hadn't gotten laid in 6-years.

She got pulled out of her thoughts once more by the distinctive sound of something getting knocked over and then Fiona's muffled scream. And it wasn't the scream that worried her. Fiona was plagued with nightmares, so she has woken up screaming more than one time. The fact that the scream was muffled and barely audible, like someone was covering her mouth chilled Maya to the core.

Maya sprang into action, she untangled her legs from the blankets that had wrapped and wound their way around her ankles so that she was leg locked. Once that was taken care of she grabbed the bat that she stashed under her bed. Quickly and quietly, due to her small size, she made her way to her daughter's room. She swung the door open violently to see a grown man's figure hunched over her daughter's bed with his hand over her mouth telling her to be quiet.

"Oh shit." The intruder mumbled as he let go of Fiona and backed towards the window.

Maya let out a loud scream and ran towards the man. He tried to climb out of the window, but she pounced on him before he could make it and brought the bat down as hard as she could on his back.

"Fiona get out now!" Maya screamed. Fiona looked horrified but nonetheless she obeyed her mother and scrambled from her bed and out of the door.

Maya continued to hit the man even though it had almost no effect. She was, as previously said, really small and she was trying to remain stably on his side despite his squirming. Her weak swings only really stopped him from leaving; they did not seem to hurt him.

"Stop stop stop!" The man called. "This is all just a misunderstanding!" She didn't tend to trust people who intruded into her home but she was too tired to keep up her swinging and he sounded somewhat genuine. She unwrapped her legs from the man's torso and dropped to the soft carpet of her daughter's room.

"So what's the misunderstanding here?" She held the bat at the ready in case he decided it wasn't a misunderstanding.

"Well-Wait," he stopped for a second obviously confused and then he moved closer, "Ms. Hart is that you?" She instantly knew who it was and held the bat a little tighter.

"Mr. Friar what the hell are you doing here! Are you stalking me now!" She spoke in sharp hushed tones. She was mad and scared, however she didn't want to let Fiona hear this conversation.

"No I'm not stalking you Ms. Hart!" He replied in the same tone, he figured if she was speaking quietly there was a reason so he should too.

"Now that you've broken into my house I believe we're on first name basis Lucas."

"Fine, I'm sorry Maya I did not know that this was your apartment. "

"Then why are you in it you creep! Were you trying to rob a house and it being my house was just an unfortunate accident." She kept the bat at her shoulder ready to swing if he got any closer to her.

"No, no my friend lives in this building and his front door is broken so he told me to go up the fire escape. And he said it was the one right above the dumpsters-,"

"Which is this fire escape." Maya interrupted.

"Exactly!" He proclaimed. "And then I swear he said 7th floor but-,"

"That is this floor. And I can assure you that my front door is not broken, and that I have no men living with me."

"Well yeah. I must have gotten confused somehow?"

"Are you sure he said 7th floor, and not go up 7 flights? Because the fire escapes don't start until floor two."

"Oh shit maybe he did! I had to jump up on top of the dumpsters and then pull down the ladder to get on the fire escape. It didn't connect in my head that getting up on the fire escape put me on level two!"

Maya chuckled and dropped the bat. "Ok so you're just an idiot, not a robber." He laughed and he seemed to bow his head in shame.

"I'm so sorry about this, really."

"It's ok Lucas." She reached over and turned on Fiona's fairy lamp to illuminate the room. "Now that you're here you might as well come in. I don't want you breaking in to anyone else's apartment." She looked up at him and caught him scanning her body. Suddenly she was very self-conscious of her exposed legs and partially visible breasts. He gulped deeply and ran his hand through hair. As he raised his arm his biceps visibly flexed showing off his impressive arm muscles.

"Ok, but aren't I already in your house?" They both chuckled. She bent down and picked up the bat. His eyes widened in horror, clearly he thought she was about to whack him upside the head.

"Stand down solider. I just don't trust Fiona with a bat in her room." He nodded in understanding and shook his head, like he was trying to shake the idiocy out. She smiled up at him, "And can you please close the window I don't want her climbing out, or catching frostbite." Lucas turned his back to her to shut the window.

This gave her a brief chance to examine him. He was wearing a distressed loose black t-shirt and jeans that sagged a little on his hips showing off his red and white striped boxers. His shirt rode up a little exposing the taut muscle of his lower back, and as he bent down she shamelessly stared at his perfect ass. _Holy shit did I step back into my dream world._

"There you go now where are we headed?" She stared at him open mouthed for a second gaping like a fish. "Maya you ok?" She swallowed and nodded her head.

"Yeah sorry just thinking about how my daughter could have been kidnapped." Which was a lie, but she sure as hell couldn't say that she was checking him out and was shocked into silence by his attractiveness.

"Oh no I'm so sorry Maya! I had no intention to make you worry I'm so sorry!" Lucas was beginning to get flustered as he thought that he had upset her.

"Its fine Lucas, just come on." She grabbed his hand and led the man out of her daughter's room. "Go into the living the room and shout if Fiona is there. But she's probably in my room and I don't want you to scare her." He nodded and looked around confused for the living room until he spotted the open doorway. She rolled her eyes and placed the bat down on a table that sat in the hallway. Slowly she started towards her bedroom, once she reached her room she carefully cracked open her door.

"Fiona are you in there sweetie?" There was no response, but Maya could hear the faint sniffles that she knew were coming from Fiona.

"Baby it's your mama. I know you're in there." Maya peeked her head into her room and saw Fiona pop out from beside her bed. The little girl sobbed and ran to her mother. Maya threw the door open and leaned down to pick up her child.

"Oh mama are you ok?" Fiona grasped Maya close to her, like she was afraid she was going to slip away. Maya nodded and just held her.

"I'm just fine baby, but it's time to go back to bed now." Fiona nodded into the crook of her neck and nuzzled her mother's hair. Maya began to carry the child back to her room and prayed that she didn't spot Lucas lurking in the living room. Lucas was easily 6'4 so not spotting him wasn't an easy feat but with a combination of stroking Fiona's hair and awkward sideway-walking Fiona had no idea he was in the house. Slowly Maya eased her way into her child's room. She set her back onto her bed and kissed her forehead.

"I love you sweetie, are you going to be ok in here?" Fiona nodded and seeing as her eyes were already mostly shut Maya believed the child would soon fall asleep.

"Good night angel." She gently tucked her under the pale pink covers and kissed her on the head again.

"Good night mama." Fiona's response was quiet almost whispered as she drifted off to sleep. Maya sat there watching her until she was sure she was truly asleep, and then slowly snuck out of the room. Maya slowly shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the door click shut.

"Thank God!" She mumbled as she stepped away from the small room. She had almost forgotten about Lucas until she was headed back to her room to sleep and saw his blonde head and broad shoulders sticking up from above her couch. She smiled sweetly to herself and then headed into the living room.

"Hey!" She said softly as she crept into the living room to be right behind him. He jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of another human's voice.

"Hey!" He smiled up at her from his seat at the couch.

"So what is your friends name? Maybe I know them and can tell you what apartment they're in." She walked around and settled next to Lucas on the couch.

"Well it's my best friend since elementary school. His name is Isaiah. Zay-"

"-Babineaux!" She interrupted eagerly and shot up so that she was sitting on her knees.

"Yeah? How do you know him?" He looked mildly concerned and very confused.

"Well Zay lives right upstairs he's one of my very best friends!" Lucas began to smile.

"Of course he is." He chuckled and combed his hands through his hair again; it seemed to be a nervous tick of his.

"I know his number by heart I'll call it right now." She raced into the kitchen to get the landline and once she got it she ran back into the living room and sort of cannon balled onto the couch. Lucas began to chuckle as she excitedly dialed the number. She clicked it on to speakerphone so that Lucas could also hear the conversation. The dial tone filled the otherwise quiet apartment.

"Heyllo?" She smiled at Zay's voice, and his goofy greeting. Lucas hadn't heard that greeting in a long time and suddenly he was overwhelmed with joy at getting to possibly see his best friend.

"Hunkalicious you will never guess who I have sitting next to me on the couch!" Lucas stiffened at Maya's nickname for Zay but she thought nothing of it.

"Who gorgeous?" Lucas somehow got even stiffer at Zay's flirty reply and she sent him an odd glance.

"Guess!" Maya was now hopping up and down on the couch on her knees as Lucas stared at her.

"Baby girl I don't have time for this!"

"Fine you killjoy! Your very bestest oldest friend Mr. Lucas friar!"

"What?" His tone switched to confused and despite Lucas's slight jealousy he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes he got confused and entered my apartment instead of yours."

"But isn't the fire escape on Fi's room?" He sounded quite concerned now, still a little confused, but mostly concerned.

"Yes, yes it is. Scared the pants off of us both!" Both Lucas and Maya were chortling quietly.

"Ok," he said skeptically, "ok sorry 'bout that beautiful. You can send him on up!" Maya looked at Lucas slyly.

"Zay just come down here! Fi is asleep and you know she sleeps like a rock! Plus now that I know you and Lucas would be upstairs partying I want to join!"

"Fine darling I'll be down in a minute!"

"Can you not take the fire escape?" Maya didn't want Fion to be scared again, even though it was only Zay she had been through a lot in the past 10 minutes. Zay let out a crackled huff.

"Fine, I'll figure something out."

"Yay," Maya cheered victoriously, " thank you Zay! See you soon?"

"Yeah, see you soon gorgeous!"

"See yah Zay!" She hung up the phone and chucked it into a nearby chair.

"I thought that you didn't have a boyfriend Maya?" Lucas said awkwardly.

"Oh. No I don't. Why would you think that?" She shook her head and got up off the couch and went straight towards the kitchen again. This time Lucas followed her.

"Well, because Zay and you were-," Maya interrupted him, "- Ew Me and Zay? Zay is like a Brother to me! Gross." She shook her head and stuck her tongue out in disgust. It shocked him that she could have this conversation so casually. She was searching through various cabinets and removing bottles of what he assumed to be alcohol.

"Help me carry these would yah." She shoved a few bottle into his arms and sent him back to the living room. Soon after he was sent away she appeared in the living room with an armful of half empty bottles.

"With a six year old around the house I have very few opportunities to drink. So I have A LOT of alcohol. For some reason people love to give alcohol as a present so now I have about 5 bottles of half finished Gin, all of it from about 10 years ago." She began to arrange the bottles on the coffee table in front of her so that the emptiest ones were up front.

"Aren't you glad that I climbed in your window then to help you with your oh so hard life of having way too much alcohol." Maya laughed and shook her head in embarrassment.

"Oh you know it! Whenever Zay comes over we hang out with the kid and then he helps with household chores. Same goes for my best friend Riley, we go out to eat sometimes, but we never drink here. So having all this alcohol here really is such a waste." The two of them were just getting into a rhythm when there was a knock at the door that they knew was Zay. Maya sprung off the couch and opened the door to reveal a giddy Zay. As usual when he saw her he scooped her into his arms and gave her a huge bear hug. Lucas watched as his best friend picked up the petite girl with barely there clothes and she seemed pretty into it since she wrapped her legs around his torso and arms around his neck. He averted his eyes because he knew it would make him pissed to look at for much longer.

"Good to see you too gorgeous." Zay chuckled as he set her back onto the ground.

"Lucas come here man!" Lucas stood with a smile and embraced his life long friend.

"Good to see you man!" Lucas clapped him on the back and released as he felt Zay pull away.

"Hell yeah it is! It's been like 5 years!"

"Probably more than 5 years Zay!"

"Damn you right!" Maya watched as the two best friends were pulled into reminiscing, and a little bit of sadness at not seeing each other for so long.

"Ok boys as sweet as this little reunion is mama hasn't gotten drunk in 3 years!" The boys stopped and stared at her shockingly.

"Maya you haven't gotten drunk since you turned 21? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Zay was always one to point out irony. She shrugged and handed out the plastic cups that she seemingly pulled from nowhere.

"I only drank then because it was Riley's birthday. I have a 6 year old guys when do I have time to drink!" She stared at the boys like they were idiots. When it became evident that they had no rebuttal she grabbed a mostly empty bottle of vodka and emptied it into her cup.

"Boys it's time to drink!" She grabbed both of their cups and filled them to the brim with gin.

"Cheers!" Zay shouted quietly and the three of them raised their glasses.

"To happy accidents." Maya proposed with a smile on her face.

"To happy accidents!" The boys repeated. Lucas smirked at her as their glasses met in the middle.

For the next few hours the new friend group drank cup after cup of weird concoctions getting more and more drunk as the night went on.

"Truth or dare!" Maya screeched at Lucas who was lying on the ground wasted off his ass.

"Truth." He managed to slur out after a moment of hard concentration.

"Ok ok. Zay help." Maya draped herself across Zay's lap and they started whispering in each other's ears. They whispered loud enough so that Lucas knew they were just mumbling random words, but for some reason he was still worried about what was being said.

"Zay noooo you can't help! You know all my secrets!"

"Not all of 'em Lukey, you been off my radar for a few years bud." Lucas huffed and sat up.

"Fine but still! Don't help that takes out all the fun!" Zay nodded in agreement and helped a giggling Maya off of his lap.

"Ok, ok, ok." Maya mumbled all of them detached from each other.

"I think I got it guys! Luke if you could sleep with one guy in our office who would it be?" She slurred out and started giggling even more. Lucas groaned out at the difficulty of the question.

"That is a loaded question my friend!" He refilled his cup and took a long full sip of whatever he had put in his cup. "I gotta say Mr. Franklin cause if I'm gonna be fucking a dude might as well get a raise and some job security from it." At that Maya started rolling around on her couch while cackling, and even though it wasn't that funny she ended up sprawled out on the ground.

"Wait," Zay interrupted the jovial laughter, "you two work together?" Zay slurred out confusedly.

"Yeah man! Maya is the lady who sits behind the front desk, and looks cute while answering the phones." Lucas explained like Zay should have already known this while waving his arms like a maniac. Maya nodded awkwardly since her body was perched partially on the couch, partially on the ground, and partially on the coffee table.

"Yup, and Lucas works in an office and he's a lawyer it's cool!" She confirmed.

"Ok Lucas on that note it's your turn to ask buddy!" Zay excitedly stated from where he was trying to hoist Maya back up on to the couch.

"Maya truth or dare!" Lucas said a little too quickly. He began to stare down the delusional drunk girl. Maya pushed Zay off of her and placed her elbows on the coffee table. She still had that rebel spirit in her so she easily met Lucas's stare.

"Dare." She confidentially proclaimed with a little hint of the devil in her expression.

"Down girl." Zay tried to pull Maya away from the challenge, but the girl had enough will left in her to push her friend away and somehow get tantalizingly close to Lucas. He took a gulp because he could clearly see down her shirt, and he knew he wasn't doing a great job at hiding where his eyes were drawn too. She snapped her fingers in front of his face sassily and sat back on her heels.

"So what's my dare?" She watched as Lucas sat confused for a few seconds or a few minutes (who really knew, she was drunk) and then got a devious look on his face.

"I dare you to take off your shirt!" Zay started whooping and Maya sat there with her mouth wide open. Soon it too melted into a devious look so the two adults were locked into a stare off.

"Lucas sweetie, I'm not wearing a bra would that really be appropriate?" Honestly none of this was appropriate their company had very strict sexual conduct policies, and for a good reason. This encounter probably broke every rule in the book except for actually sleeping together, but with the growing tension it was becoming a serious possibility.

Lucas had been under company review before for sexual misconduct in the workplace and he didn't want to put Maya through that but damn. He knew that seeing your secretary half naked was definitely against the rules and frankly his alcohol-influenced mind did not care one bit. Maya knew that removing her shirt because her boss asked her to opened both of them up to a world of lawsuits, and probably being fired but she didn't really care either. The two just stared into each other's eyes. Neither knew if it was out of passion or competition, but they couldn't pull their eyes away.

"Okay let's see some tits or Maya you better get chugging!" Zay slurred out the okay to show that even in his state he could see the sexual tension between the two of them.

"Okay, okay Zay calm down." Maya knew that stripping out of her tank top was not a smart decision, so she motioned to Zay to fill up her cup. He put his hands up in defeat and filled her cup to the brim with vodka. She held it up to her lips and nodded at them to start the countdown.

The two boys alternated counting, "5", "4", "3", "2", "1", and then in unison they shouted "Chug!"

She speedily downed the glass of vodka, ignoring the burning sensation that filled her mouth and throat. She slammed the glass on the coffee table and raised her arms over her head in victory.

"Oh my God that fucking burned." She made a face of disgust and slouched back onto couch to catch her breath.

"You are a champion my friend." Zay leaned over kissed her on the head and slowly stood up. "As much as I hate to be that guy, It's almost 4 AM and I have work in 2 hours." He slowly stretched and made his way to the door.

"Noooo!" Maya crooned and half crawled half threw her body at his legs in an effort to make him stop.

"Oof- Maya don't be like that!"

"But Zay I don't even know this guy," she motioned toward Lucas, "what if he takes advantage of me, and you're not here to stop it." Zay chuckled and easily lifted the woman from the ground and set her on her feet.

He held her by the shoulders and hunched over to stare her in the eye, " I highly doubt that Maya." She giggled childishly and wrapped her arms around her best friends neck.

"Ok fine. Goodbye hunkalicious see you tomorrow at 3:10." He hugged her and laughed as his drunk friend slumped into his arms. "Don't forget Isaiah!"

"I won't Maya I promise!" Zay motioned for Lucas to stand up and come towards him.

The blonde stood up and slowly moved towards his best friend. Zay lifted her slightly so that Maya wasn't solely leaning on him, and Lucas opened his arms so that Zay could smoothly deposit her into his arms and make his exit.

"No Lucas let go! You gotta make sure Zay gets home ok." She started to squirm in the strong man's arms.

"He'll be fine yah weirdo." He said slightly slurred. He slowly waddled his way back to the couch with the slumped blonde who had essentially gone boneless.

Zay had been the most sober of the 3 of them so Lucas and Maya had no moral compass or rational thought now. The two adults cuddled on the couch until Maya had a sudden burst of energy. She leapt out of Lucas's arms and ran into the kitchen.

"Lucas," she shouted, "do you want a grilled cheese!" She sounded so excited about it that the drunk man couldn't say no.

"Of course I do!" He slurred from his spot on the couch.

"Well then come on!" Maya ran back into the living room, grabbed his hand and attempted to drag him off the couch.

The small woman yanked on her friends arm to the point where she could probably dislocate it. Finally he stopped resisting and used his other arm to push himself off the couch. She continued to yank his arm, which gave him the message that he was to follow her wherever she was going.

She led the groggy man into her kitchen where she had pulled out all the bread in her home and most of the cheese.

" Let's do this!" In a matter of minutes the two were flying around the small kitchen putting together the 'perfect blend' of cheeses for a grilled cheese. Lucas stood at the counter hunched over so that he could see the counter-space between the two sets of cabinets. In front of him was a makeshift cutting board, which was covered in American cheese, and some odd gouda that Maya had picked up at fresh market. Maya was perched on top of the island in the middle of the room grating a hard block of cheddar cheese.

"Ow!" Maya yelped and dropped the grater to the ground with all of her cheese.

"Maya?" Lucas set down his knife and whipped around to look at the blonde. She was sitting cross-legged on the counter and was closely inspecting one finger.

"I cut myself Lucas." She pouted and showed him the bleeding gash going across her pointer finger. He rushed to her side and picked up her hand in his own. He grabbed a paper towel that was sitting beside her and dabbed at it the cut to stop the bleeding. Once it stopped bleeding he lifted the finger up to his mouth and left a soft kiss at the previously bleeding spot.

Maya raised her head and her blue eyes locked with his green ones. He pressed his lips to her finger again. She looked at him from under her long lashes as he continued to kiss his way down her arm. She sat there stuck in her place until he hit the crook of her elbow and was basically leaning into her lap. She reached out with her other arm, grabbed him by the chin and tilted his head up until their foreheads were pressed together. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist.

In that moment Maya forgot about everything. She was no longer a 24-year-old mom of a 6 year old. She wasn't working two jobs just to support her family. She didn't live in the slums, she didn't have to sleep with a bat in her room, she didn't need to coerce her landlord to fix simple problems, and she wasn't utterly alone. She was just a woman who was with a man.

Lucas moved his head forward and slowly his lips and Maya's met. The second their lips touched it was like a spark inside of them was ignited. Maya wrapped her legs around Lucas's waist and he grasped her back trying to pull her closer to him. She whimpered softly into his mouth and deepened the kiss. Maya hadn't been kissed like this in ages; probably ever considering every guy she had been with was a high school boy or college drop out. He slid his arms down her sides and rested his hands on the top of her ass giving it a light squeeze. Maya tightened her hold on the man and slid her tongue in his mouth to fight for dominance of the situation. When he felt his control slipping he smoothly lifted her off the counter and hugged her body to his so that he could keep her elevated. He spun them around a few times until he saw an empty spot on the wall and slammed her back up against it. Slowly he lifted his knee and wedged his thigh between her legs. As soon as he settled her on his thigh she whimpered at the sudden contact and tried to shimmy closer to him. Regretfully he broke the kiss and began moved his lips to the column of her neck where he nibbled, sucked, and pecked until her neck was covered in multi-color spots.

"Lucas, bedroom please." Maya panted out as he continued to cover her neck and shoulders with kisses. He chuckled at her insistence and moved his hands from the walls beside her to under her ass. He hoisted her up so she was around his waist and slid his knee out.

She started to kiss and lick up and down his neck as he moved them out of the kitchen and towards where he assumed her room was.

"Maya as much as I really, really don't want you to stop, I have no idea where I'm going." She groaned and jumped out his arms. She grabbed his hand and led him to her room. When she reached the door she turned around gave him possibly the sexiest look he's ever seen and slowly pulled him into the dark room.

He stood right inside the closed room in the pitch dark while Maya pattered around trying to turn on the light. After a minute a dim lamp in the corner slowly lit up her room.

She had a sultry playful grin on her face as she crossed the room until she was standing right in front of him. She looked up at him with wide doe eyes and slowly lifted her shirt over her head.

"You ready cowboy?"


End file.
